Takuma’s Burger’s owner Takuma Fumoto defended several people who were being attacked last weekend
By Dolores Quintana
According to a post on their Instagram page, Takuma’s Burger’s owner Takuma Fumoto defended several people who were being attacked by a man who was mentally unstable in front of his business located in front of Mitsuwa Marketplace at 3760 S Centinela Ave on Saturday, April 30. The report came from a user named Lee Portillo on the local NextDoor page. Portillo expressed regret about there being a number of incidents like this in the neighborhood but praised Fumoto’s bravery and quick-thinking action after the mentally ill man attacked a number of customers who were waiting for their food on Centinela. The man escalated to a point where he grabbed a stroller with a child in it and the father of the child fought him off. Owner Takuma Fumoto then confronted the man and chased him away. Apparently, the police never responded to help.
Takuma Fomoto responded to the post and said, “First of all, I’m sorry [for] my poor English. Thank you very much to all of the people who praised my achievement. I just did what I had to do at the time…I know the homeless man who assaulted [the] kid has a mental illness and he is still walking around our area. So I keep watching him and hopefully, he never makes such a problem and I wished all neighbors are safe with peace.”
Fumoto added “There are so many neighbors visiting me with shopping for my burgers. It is very helpful to my business situation because I’m spending a very difficult time by economic shock. These lucky businesses made me a very happy birthday on 4/2. I [am] really happy that I have a chance to see everyone and they like my burgers. I almost lost everything [during] the Corona pandemic then I’m working alone with doing everything by myself now, yes it’s very hard working. But I will try to be [a] burger shop that [is] rooted in this area.”
If you would like to help this brave chef and restaurateur, he made a couple of suggestions in the post. Fumoto stated, “If you follow my Instagram, you can see my secret menus, and schedule when I close for a catering event. So please check my Instagram when you have a chance. Thank you very much again.”
You can find Takuma’s Burgers website here. The restaurant serves burgers and more: chicken Kaarage or Japanese fried chicken, Takoyaki or fried octopus in a wheat batter, Chicken Katsu sandwiches, and for vegetarians, a Portobello mushroom burger and a veggie croquette. The sides are waffle fries, sweet potato fries and Jalapeno cheese fries.
